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Perth Portuguese communities unite to celebrate Portugal Day

Henrique Jorge and Cindy Jorge,Rubi Brophy, Isabel Faustino and Jaime Correia.
Portugal Day is coming up in June. The two Portuguese clubs North & South of the river will be holding celebrations to commemorate the day. Picture: Andrew Ritchie www.communitypix.com.au d492942

THE rich culture of Portugal will be celebrated with a feast of food, wine and dance when their communities north and south of the river come together to celebrate Portugal Day next month.

The WA Portuguese Club in Beaconsfield and the Portuguese Social Club Perth based out of Stirling, will hold two events to celebrate the day, also known as Dia de Camões and normally celebrated on June 10, commemorating the death of literary icon Luis de Camões.

Portuguese Social Club Perth president Ruby Brophy said their event on June 8 would include a traditional meal of feijoada (a bean, pork and beef stew) or chicken, along with entree, dessert and entertainment.

It will also announce the winners of the inaugural Portuguese Community Council of Western Australia’s WA Portuguese Citizen of the Year in six different categories including community, business, arts and culture, young people and sports.

“It’s two celebrations in one,” Mrs Brophy, said.

“I’ve been in Australia a long time and I love it,” she said.

“But this is also my culture and we don’t stop being Portuguese because we migrated elsewhere.”

WA Portuguese Club spokeswoman Isabel Faustino said the club’s dinner dance on June 22, would be a night of celebration, with traditional bacalhau (cod fish) or chicken, entree, dessert and live entertainment.

It would also announce the overall winner of the Portuguese Community Council of Western Australia’s WA Portuguese Citizen of the Year.

Mrs Faustino who has been involved with the WA Portuguese Club for 22 years said sadly she had seen a decline in younger generations attending club events and hoped the Portugal Day celebrations would encourage younger people to come along.

“I would love to see more,” she said.

“When we had the football (soccer) here, we would see young and old attend the club but it’s not like that anymore.

“In terms of members we have very few young members and even less attending,

“This is a great day of celebration and we would love to see younger people attend and become more involved in our activities.”

Mrs Brophy said going forward the two clubs would continue to work together to keep the country’s traditions alive.

“My children and grandchildren also embrace the culture, this is what we are trying to do with our clubs, to have Portuguese Australians continue our traditions,” Mrs Brophy said.

“We are a small community, so it’s important to unite and work together for the entire Portuguese community.”

Nominations for the inaugural Portuguese Community Council of Western Australia’s WA Portuguese Citizen of the Year are open until May 12, to nominate visit www.portuguesecc.com.

For tickets to the Portuguese Social Club Perth event on June 8 phone Ruby Brophy on 0433 719 110 and for tickets to the WA Portuguese Club event on June 22, phone (08) 9335 2002.